The field of the invention is that of transmission of data by radio, in particular in a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) network, and in relation to the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) standard, and consists in a method of dynamic configuration of the parameters used for this kind of transmission.
In GPRS or GSM applications, mobile stations and like radiocommunication devices can be used as modems or as analog interface and transfer devices to transmit data between a radiocommunication network to which said devices can connect and a data processing unit or terminal, such as a computer, in particular a personal computer, which is either isolated or networked with other computers.
In such applications, after completing an uplink transmission sequence, for example, the device may end up waiting for a return downlink transmission, a confirmation, or some other message from the network.
A similar situation can arise if the radiocommunication device is in the phase of searching for a connection to a suitable network, and in particular its own network, as described in the document EP-A-0 603 050 in particular.
The conditions applying to, and the execution of, this active waiting state, and in particular the listening and verification operations carried out by the radiocommunication device, either continuously or repetitively, at regular or irregular intervals, are defined by discontinuous reception (DRX) parameters imposed by the network and using the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI).
These parameters, the value or the state of which must be set to define how the device listens to the network, include in particular the “SPLIT-PG-CYCLE” parameter (period of search or packet call waiting messages), the “SPLIT on CCCH” indicator (indicating the DRX method used: GSM or GPRS), and the “non DRX timer” parameter (existence or non-existence of a continuous listening state and, where applicable, duration of that state after a data transmission phase).
The values of the parameters previously cited are set by the radiocommunication device, in accordance with the GPRS standard, during GPRS attachment or GPRS location procedures, and once and for all for a given application.
The configuration of the DRX parameters is the result of a compromise between the effective or required autonomy of the radiocommunication device (with autonomous power supply) and the degree of responsiveness necessary or required of the device in terms of call and search requests and/or a downlink transfer.
A different and specific compromise can be defined for each GPRS application. In some cases, the responsiveness factor takes priority over the autonomy factor, whereas in other cases the autonomy factor is more decisive than the responsiveness factor.
Consequently, applications installed on a computer or like terminal and using a GPRS medium cannot at present carry out any modification of said DRX parameters.
Now there may be a requirement to provide the possibility of reconfiguring the DRX parameters after their original configuration, for example because of an intentional or unintentional modification of the priorities of the factors previously cited that are relevant, or a change in transmission conditions, to which only the terminal or the computer may be sensitive.